DC Townsend Discharge in Nitrogen: Temperature‐Dependent Phenomena |
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Authors: | A N Lodygin L M Portsel Yu A Astrov |
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Institution: | Ioffe Physico‐Technical Institute, Politekhnicheskaya 26, 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia |
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Abstract: | Low‐current Townsend discharge in nitrogen has been studied in the temperature range of T = 100–300 K in a semiconductor‐gas‐discharge structure. It was found that the sustaining voltage US increases with time when a current is passed through the structure at low T. This effect was not observed at room temperature. A hypothesis is put forward that a film of a neutral phase of nitrogen is formed on the electrodes under cryogenic discharge conditions. The presence of the condensed thin‐film phase leads to a decrease in the secondary electron emission from the electrode and to a corresponding increase in US. A possible mechanism of the phenomenon is associated with the formation of large neutral aggregates in the form of N+2(N2)n]– in the gas discharge volume. The condensation of these aggregates seems to yield a phase that is comparatively stable at cryogenic temperatures (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
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Keywords: | Cryogenic Townsend discharge semiconductor− discharge‐gap device electrode phenomena |
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